Most Democrats Opt Against Social Security Brainstorming

"Democrat forecast on Social Security: severe obstruction, no ideas," headlined a bulletin from the Republican National Committee on Friday.

Most Democrats in Congress are content to watch their Republican colleagues and President Bush hold the floor alone in proposing ways to improve the finances of Social Security.

Bush's proposal to let workers divert some of their payroll taxes into individual investment accounts has not fared well in public opinion surveys, and his endorsement last week of a plan to curtail future benefits of all but the lowest-earning 30% of workers is not faring much better.

"We want to keep the focus on their intention to privatize Social Security," said Rep. Sander M. Levin of Michigan, the leading Democrat on the Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security. "The more the public hears about privatization, the more they dislike it."

Despite Bush's continual urging for politicians to put ideas on the table, many Democratic strategists say there is no down side to opposing Bush's plan and offering nothing in its place.

"The public will be satisfied to hear the Democrats just say no," said Guy Molyneux, a senior vice president of Peter D. Hart Research Associates, a Democratic polling firm. "As far as the public is concerned, Social Security's financial problem is not urgent, and Congress should take its time."

But there is a school of thought among Democrats that the say-nothing strategy could work as long as Bush was not specific about his intentions for heading off the Social Security solvency problem.

But now that the president has shown some of his cards with his support last week for curtailing benefits for retirees in the middle and upper reaches of the income scale, Democrats can no longer just say no, this line of thought holds.

"The Democrats should say no to privatization -- there's no compromising on that -- but they should seize the moment to address pension reform, health costs and other issues," Democratic strategist James Carville said Friday.

In a memo last month, Carville and colleague Stan Greenberg urged congressional Democrats to come up with an alternative to Bush's call for individual investment accounts.